The present invention relates generally to confectionary products. More specifically the present invention relates to confectionary products that have an outer coating and syrups for creating such outer coatings.
It is of course known to provide a variety of types of confectionary products for consumers. One such confectionary product is chewing gum. Chewing gum generally consists of a water insoluble portion and a water soluble portion including sweeteners.
In a similar vein it is known to provide a variety of different types of chewing gum. For example, it is also known in creating chewing gum, and other confectionary products, to coat the chewing gum with an outer or overcoating. The overcoating can provide an initial sweetness or other desirable oleptic property to the consumer. Further, the overcoating can provide a crunching sensation when chewed by the consumer. The overcoating provides, preferably, a smooth outer appearance to the consumer. A number of such chewing gum products are known.
Initially in creating overcoated chewing gums, sugar syrups were used to create the overcoating. The sugar syrup creates a product having a smooth appearance. When chewed by the consumer the sugar coating provides a crunching sensation to the consumer. Additionally such a coating provides an initial burst of sweetness.
In recent years, efforts have been devoted to replacing sugar and sugar syrups in chewing gum with other carbohydrates and non-carbohydrates. This has entailed not only replacing the sugar sweetener within the chewing gum but the coating layers for coating the chewing gums and other confectionary products. To this end xylitol has been used as an overcoating.
Although xylitol syrups can be used to coat chewing gum they do not provide the same characteristics as sugar syrups. For example, when overcoating of xylitol it is difficult to provide the same appearance as sugar; the overcoating of xylitol is often not as smooth. In fact, xylitol syrup overcoatings become brittle and chip or break, e.g. at the corners of rectangular shaped chewing gum.
Further, xylitol syrups do not immediately crystallize when coated onto the chewing gum. Therefore, the coating process can be more time consuming and accordingly more expensive than the use of sugar syrup coatings. This is especially true if an effort is made to match the appearance of sugar coated products. Still further, a xylitol coating may not provide the crunch that a sugar syrup coating does. "Crunchiness" of the coating is one of the desirable characteristics consumers look to in coated chewing gum products.
One effort to improve upon xylitol coatings is set forth in European Patent Application 95400199.6. Layers or coatings on chewing gum are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,270,061; 5,376,389; 5,248,508; and 5,409,715 as well as WO 95-07622 and WO 95-07625.
With respect to European application 95400199.6 this application discloses a process wherein a syrup comprising a blend of mannitol and xylitol is used to coat the chewing gum. This mixture has been founded to provide an improved appearance on coated chewing gum as compared to xylitol. Further, as compared to xylitol this mixture is easier to coat on to chewing gum at a lower cost.
However, the inventors of the present invention have surprisingly found that the mannitol/xylitol syrup blends, although they provide the necessary "crunchiness" as well as a smooth appearance, are very hygroscopic. Indeed, such blends are much more hygroscopic than the pure xylitol syrups they replace. This results in a product having a decreased shelf life and/or increased packaging costs. It has been found that if not protected from high humidity, xylitol/mannitol coated chewing gum pellets suffer a loss of crunch and hardness, and develop a degraded appearance. In fact when exposed to high humidity the coating can even dissolve and run off the pellet.
There is therefore a need for an improved overcoating.